Point of View Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered Activism With a Little Kink and Human Sexuality Thrown In

Friday, December 23, 2011

Retro Post: Tim Tebow, American Dickbag

NOTE: Since a lot of the posts I've done for my personal blog fit here, you'll probably see me bring a fair amount of them over.

Look...from all accounts, Tim Tebow is the nicest human being on the planet. I have no idea what his actual position is on LGBT rights or same sex marriage. What I do know is that Tebow put his face and star power to an organization called Focus on the Family, advertising during last year's Super Bowl.

Focus on the Family was founded in 1977 by James Dobson in Colorado Springs, Colorado, the same man who would go on to found the Family Research Council with whom FotF is closely affiliated (more on them later).

As you would expect, FotF is against same sex marriage and has gone on at length about how it is the road to society's destruction, about par for the course for a religious group. FotF also goes on to say that same sex marriage will lead to "unstable homes for children," a claim that has not been substantiated in any reputable study. In fact the American Psychological Association and the Royal College of Psychiatrists (UK) have specifically stated that Focus on the Family has no scientific research to back up its claims.

Focus on the Family has also come under fire from researchers across the country for distorting their work. Researcher Judith Stacey pointed out that one of her studies that is frequently cited as evidence that children are harmed by same sex households only compared two parent households to single parent households with no mention of same sex parentage at all. Researcher Elizabeth Saewyc had her study on teen suicides used to promote Conversion Therapy where gays are forced to "be straight" even though the study linked those suicides to harassments like conversion therapy and an outside push to "be normal."

And Focus on the Family is the GOOD cop among the two organizations. The Family Research Council is far, far worse.

The FRC was founded by the same person in the same state in 1983. Right now it's headed by Tony Perkins and its messages are spread by Senior Fellow for Policy Studies Peter Sprigg. Where to even begin? For starters, the FRC has been designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, who made its name fighting the Klan and other discriminatory groups several decades ago. The list of distortions and lies the FRC has made is extensive. Some of the lowlights:

Claiming domestic violence happens at a high level in LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered) relationships.

Citing "private sources" in saying that gay appointee David Hansell would cut funds from states that bar gay marriage.

Connecting homosexuality and pedophilia.

Citing the research of Paul Cameron, who has been discredited by virtually every reputable Psychiatric association in the United States and Canada.

Using data from the 70s and 80s to make the case against same sex relationships when said data has been thoroughly debunked.

"Homosexuals say they don't want children, but boy they put a lot of energy into going after them."

"The homosexual rights movement has tried to distance itself from pedophilia, but only for public relations purposes."

"There is a strong undercurrent of pedophilia in the homosexual subculture."

"You don't have to eat the stale crumbs off the dirty floor, which is basically what lesbianism is."

that the Employee Non-Discrimination Act is a "Crossdresser Protection Bill."

LGBT individuals suffer from several ills (like depression) at higher rates while failing to acknowledge that the cause of those ills is homophobia and harassment, not being LGBT.

that studies prove that gay men and women are more promiscuous, even though those studies were performed before gay marriage was legal.

At the risk of being redundant, I will stop there. The FRC has harped on the same points over and over again, that LGBT individuals are less healthy (false), that they are more likely to molest children (false), and that they make worse parents (false).

Perhaps most reprehensible is that the FRC continues to oppose legislation that would curtail bullying, even in the wake of several teen suicides. That the FRC can not only ignore teen suicides, but actually take active measures to ensure they continue is nothing short of disgusting.

Where does Tim Tebow fall in all of this? Like I said, I don't know. But what I do know is that he donated his face and his star power to Focus on the Family. That alone is bad enough.